Feds subpoena CPS principal

Whitney Young Magnet Principal Joyce Kenner on Monday became the first principal to reveal she has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury investigating admissions to Chicago's elite college prep high schools but insisted she "did nothing wrong'' and has no clue why she is being summoned.

At times close to tears, the longtime principal of one of Chicago's best-known high schools said, "for me to have to go through this, for my family to go through this, for my school to go through this -- we don't deserve this."

"I have nothing to hide. I did nothing wrong.''

Kenner's admission to the Sun-Times that she had received a subpoena came after Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) Monday became the second alderman to concede his daughter was admitted to Young after he called Kenner. Both Beale and Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd) said they never pressured Kenner to accept their children as so-called principal picks, and both said they had made similar calls for constituents.

Beale's daughter was admitted in 2004 -- long before the 2008 and 2009 time period now under federal scrutiny. All correspondence involving "principal picks" at college preps from "public officials'' has already been subpoenaed.

Back in 2004, Young was the only college prep to routinely handpick some students outside a rigid formula involving grades, attendance and admission test scores. Kenner said Young's tradition of such picks goes back decades to its inception as a magnet school, and she used them to bring diversity and talent to her school.

Beale said he intervened on his daughter's behalf because she was transferring from a Catholic school with "different standards, different criteria," and Kenner "did not have ready access to those transcripts."

"You're talking about an A-minus student. I did what a parent is supposed to do: I called the principal and asked her to look at the transcripts," Beale said.

"The call was made [to ask], 'Is there any space available?' The principal said, 'Yes.' So, I said, 'Can you look at her transcripts?' She looked at it and, based on that, she was accepted."

Kenner said she had a "personal relationship'' with Beale, whom she knew as a baseball coach when her son was playing baseball. "When he called me, it wasn't about him being a political figure,'' Kenner said.

Beale's daughter had high test scores, Kenner said, although she could not remember by how much the girl missed the cutoff score.

"Some kids missed it by a few points. He [Beale] made a call, he asked if I could review it, and I felt she could make it at Whitney Young,'' Kenner said. The girl did well at Young, was active in girls tennis, and is now a sophomore at the University of Illinois-Champaign, she said.

Kenner said neither Beale nor Munoz put pressure on her to accept their children. And, she said, Whitney Young has not accepted "one dime" from the families of principal picks.

Even Michael Jordan, whose youngest son bypassed the usual admission process by transferring into Whitney Young as a junior in 2007, did not contribute to the school, Kenner said.

Kenner said she knew Munoz as the father of a boy her son played basketball with -- not as an alderman.

"I try not to be political at all,'' Kenner said. "If you ask me how many aldermen there are, I don't even know. I'm focused on educating my students every day. . . . I have no hidden agenda. I have not taken money from anybody. I have not even heard rumors what this [ investigation] is about.

"I have no idea.''

On Monday, Beale blasted federal investigators for using valuable resources to investigate school clout.

"They need to be investigating guns and drugs and gangs coming into our community instead of investigating people trying to help people get a good quality education," Beale said.

Beale also said he did not flex any muscles to get his daughter into U. of I. -- now under a clout admissions cloud: "Not a one."

Photo: Anthony Beale ; Photo: Joyce Kenner ;